Why 2 women paused before reporting that UW football player Tylin Rogers raped them

Editor’s note: This story contains allegations of sexual assault and a brief mention of suicide.

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he night she said she was raped by University of Washington running back Tylin Rogers, the 18-year-old woman immediately called her roommate and her mother to tell them what had happened.

She went to a hospital that same night late last October, bringing with her the towels she’d used to wash up. She underwent a sexual assault exam, and a social worker made contact shortly thereafter.

Although she took immediate action, she later told investigators she had debated whether to contact police.

According to Seattle Police Department records, she told police, “Rogers had stated that he was a college football player, and that he had his whole life/career ahead of him.”

RELATED: King County prosecutors 'rush filed' charges against UW football player accused of two rapes

She was one of two young women who have accused Rogers of raping them in the fall. While they reported their version of events, both had a moment of pause before they did so. The second woman struggled to come to terms with what happened, while the first woman reflected on “previous negative interactions with the police department” in addition to her concerns for Rogers’ future, according to documents obtained from SPD.

Since the alleged attack, the 18-year-old woman’s life has changed significantly, according to those documents.

She dropped out of school. She moved in with her parents. She lost her job. And, according to an SPD report, she attempted suicide.

If you or someone you know is experiencing a crisis or considering self-harm, call or text 988 for help. You can also contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255.

KUOW does not know the woman’s identity, nor the identity of a second woman who accused Rogers of raping her. KUOW has not spoken with the women. However, police records obtained through public disclosure requests to SPD and the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office give us an idea of the impact the alleged rapes had on them.

“[The first woman] disclosed that [she] cannot live alone right now as she has had an increase in mental health and physical health issues since the assault,” the report noted. “Before the rape these were under control but the increase in the stress had triggered her.”

Rogers has pleaded not guilty to one count of rape in the second degree and one count of rape in the third degree. His trial is scheduled to begin in July.

RELATED: UW football player accused of raping two women pleads not guilty

Chris Johnson, the director of prevention and education services at the King County Sexual Assault Resource Center, said the accounts described in the police reports KUOW obtained include details that are not uncommon in these cases.

Take, for instance, the woman’s concern for Rogers’ future.

“They feel as if other people's needs are a priority over their own," Johnson said of people who express a similar concern for their assailants. “People feel like, ‘Well, of course, I'm not as important as this other person.’”

And that may be all the more true in cases involving someone of note, like an up-and-coming athlete.

Rogers, 18, was removed from the travel roster for the Pac-12 championship game played on Dec. 1, just three days after the woman reported the alleged attack to the University of Washington’s Title IX Office.

A detective with SPD wrote in one report that she believes the allegations were tied to the coaching staff’s decision to suspend Rogers for that game, but he was later allowed to play in the college football playoffs and national championship.

'She was fearful ... due to her past experiences'

According to police records, Rogers asked the 18-year-old woman if they were alone before assaulting her. They were on the couch, and he motioned for her to come closer. She thought he wanted to show her something on his phone – but then he grabbed her head and demanded oral sex.

She told police she “felt defeated” as the assault progressed and Rogers forced himself on her to rape her. She said she “felt she needed to go along with the demands as she was fearful of what would happen if she did not due to her past experiences.”

This is in line with a “freeze” response. Johnson said it’s akin to the fight or flight responses – the body’s physiological mechanisms for responding to trauma and threats. The freeze response is not talked about as often as fight or flight, but Johnson said it’s a very common response among people who have been sexually assaulted.

“Just like fight or flight, we don't have a choice in which of these our bodies are going to participate in,” Johnson explained. “[People who experience a freeze response] talk about it as paralysis, as being overwhelmed, not knowing what to do."

And that paralysis “is often where self-blame begins to germinate for folks.”

The first woman who reported Rogers had raped her alluded to past experiences in a message to Rogers before they met in person, according to a screenshot of a conversation they had through Instagram.

She told Rogers that she does not have sex the first time she meets someone, hinting at “scary” encounters.

“Wym [what you mean] it got scary?” Rogers responded, adding in another message, “But that’s fine.”

“like the ppl [people] just started being really violent and adamant and I just would kinda take it,” she replied.

She went on to blame herself in part, “because no one actually forced me to do anything, they just were very rude about it.”

Johnson said people who have experienced trauma often try to rationalize what happened to them.

“Sometimes it's to retain a sense of power," he said, “which can also lead to minimizing. They minimize what happened to them, so that it wasn't a sexual assault, so that I don't have to acknowledge that ... then maybe I'm not going to feel so bad.”

‘She began to realize this was worse than she had thought'

The second woman Rogers allegedly raped told police that he came to her apartment and “immediately ripped [her] clothes off,” slapped her across the face, and threw her on her bed. He proceeded despite her repeatedly saying “no” and “stop,” the woman told police.

She was 21 at the time of the alleged rape, according to police records.

Yet, based on what was reported in the police investigation, past harassment clouded her ability to fully grasp what had happened with Rogers. “She had experienced so many other incidents of random guys slapping her and grinding on her at parties, so her threshold for sexual assaults was a bit higher,” according to police records.

Johnson was clear here: A person’s response to an assault does not reflect the severity of the act. Someone may have a minimal reaction – or what appears to be minimal – to a horrific act and vice versa, Johnson said.

RELATED: Too many King County sexual assaults are pleaded down to lesser crimes, advocates say

The woman said the alleged attack took place between Halloween and Thanksgiving in 2023, but she didn’t make a police report until February of this year. That’s in part because “it took her some time to process how serious the case was.”

“She disclosed to a friend in January and her friend told her that this was in fact an assault,” according to an SPD report obtained through the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office. “She began to realize this was worse than she had thought initially which is why she did not report sooner.”

This is not uncommon among sexual assault victims, Johnson said. And that’s, in part, because "sexual assault” may mean different things to different people.

“People tend to sort of sit on the experience and try to make sense of it,” Johnson said. “What was this? Was this just bad sex? Was this a sexual assault?”

He had a client once compare it to a tangled ball of Christmas lights in her brain. She couldn’t untangle it by herself. It was only when she talked to someone that she could lay it all out and begin to heal.

“Recovery is definitely possible,” Johnson said. “There are people out there who will believe you, who will help you. ... It's important to not do it alone.”

If you or someone you know is experiencing a crisis or considering self-harm, call or text 988 for help. You can also contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255.